Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oman’s Abdullah al Zubair won the MERC2 category at the inaugural Jeddah-based Rally Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Al Zubair dominated from the start in his Subaru Impreza and moved firmly into title contention against fellow countryman Zakariya al Aamri.

 “Very nice, very fast,” said Al Zubair. “Overall, I am happy. It has been very challenging. You have to trust your notes on this rally.”

Meanwhile, Nasser Saleh al Attiyah won five of the day’s six gravel stages to the north of the Red Sea city to earn a record-breaking 89th career MERC rally win, as he bids for a 20th FIA Middle East Rally Championship title

Al Attiyah and Candido Carrera, in an Autotek Škoda Fabia RS, suffered a time-consuming puncture on the second stage of the final day but hit back to win his third successive MERC event with his Spanish co-driver Carrera by 1min 37.4sec.

Al Attiyah said: “It was nice to win the rally. But the good thing was that we had the rally back here in Saudi Arabia. I cannot wait for the next one in November. I want to do it in a Rally1 car!”

Finn Juho Hänninen and his co-driver Janni Hussi entered the event in a Toyota Yaris for test and research purposes on behalf of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT. But the duo won two stages and finished in a comfortable second position, although they were not registered for MERC points.

Hänninen added: “It was okay. We saw all the stages and we learned a lot. From that side it was a good journey. Nasser is the king of the Middle East. I knew that before coming here. The result was not that important. We learned so many things. It’s nice to be second after Nasser. It was nice to see him again because we competed together many years ago.”

Saudi driver Rakan Al Rashed teamed up with Hugo Magalhães to finish on the final step of the podium.

Qatar’s Abdulaziz al Kuwari and his Irish team-mate Lorcan Moore moved briefly into third overall during the final morning before stopping to change a flat tyre mid-stage. That time loss pushed them back to fourth, a position they held to the finish to stay ahead of Oman’s Abdullah al Rawahi and his British co-driver Ross Whittock. Three punctures had cost Al Rawahi dearly on day one.